SANFORD – A judge has denied George Zimmerman's request to delay his trial in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin.

The trial remains set for June 10. Circuit Judge Debra Nelson issued her ruling during an often heated one-hour hearing this morning. ::snipping2::The day's events began in front of the Seminole County Courthouse with family members and supporters singing "Happy Birthday" to Trayvon, who would have turned 18 today.

The legal arguments began at 9 a.m. Defense attorney Mark O'Mara acknowledged the teen's birthday at the start of the hearing, stating that "no matter what, a tragedy occurred."

Next up, O'Mara asked the judge to grant the defense access to purchase records from a 7-Eleven where Trayvon shopped the night of the shooting. The state did not object, and the judge granted the motion.

O'Mara also wanted Zimmerman's trial delayed. O'Mara had argued in a lengthy motion that there's much work left to be done, and many depositions to conduct. The defense, he said, has had to fight the state for key evidence, and can't possibly be ready by June.

"The only additional argument is I need more time," O'Mara said in court today.

Prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda countered that O'Mara doesn't deserve any more time.

"It's February and the trial's set for June," he said, adding that some delays that have happened so far have been the defense's fault.

"Sometimes we set aside days of depositions, and they're canceled.. that's frustrating," de la Rionda said.

The judge noted that both parties had earlier estimated they would be ready by June. O'Mara's issues, Nelson said, don't appear to be "insurmountable."

The parties then moved on to other pieces of evidence O'Mara argues he needs.

The attorneys argued about data downloaded from Trayvon's phone. O'Mara has said there's information the state is withholding.

Nelson told the state to provide a full chain of custody report for the phone, indicating which tests were conducted where.

O'Mara also asked the judge to order the state to provide further information on the social media accounts of Witness 8.

She's expected to be one of the state's most important witnesses because she says she heard the first words of the confrontation between Trayvon and Zimmerman.

The judge ruled that the defense can get the social media information through a "mini" deposition, before the witness is formally deposed.

The defense also wanted to depose Benjamin Crump, an attorney for the Martin family. However, Crump's attorney, Bruce Blackwell, countered that the deposition was improper -- Crump, Blackwell said, is not a witness in the case.

Rather, Crump filed a 15-page affidavit, explaining how he found Witness 8 and the circumstances of his interview with the girl. Blackwell argued that should be enough.

The defense argued that Crump has relevant information on other topics, and asked to depose him. The judge delayed that deposition, which had been set for today. ::snipping2::

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" Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." - Daniel Moynihan

::snipping2::Kealing added that the defense team “suffered another defeat in their hopes of deposing the attorney for Travyon Martin’s family, Ben Crump.”

The defense wants to ask Crump about his questioning of Witness 8, Martin’s girlfriend who says she was on the phone talking with Martin before the deadly confrontation with Zimmerman a year ago.

WKMG-Channel 6’s Mike DeForest described an affidavit that Crump’s lawyer filed with the court. “It explains how he [Crump] located the girl by looking at Trayvon Martin’s cell phone records and then when he interviewed her, she refused to meet with authorities,” DeForest said. “[She] wouldn’t even meet with Crump in person. He says he had to do the interview with her over the phone, a conversation that was recorded.”

Mark NeJame, legal analyst for Central Florida News 13, said he was surprised that Crump brought in an attorney, Bruce Blackwell. NeJame described Blackwell as good, renowned and respected. NeJame called Blackwell’s affidavit an “artful” move to stop and block the Crump deposition, which had been scheduled for Tuesday. ::snipping2::

George Zimmerman’s attorney Mark O’Mara told In Session correspondent Jean Casarez on Wednesday that his client’s “Stand Your Ground” hearing is set for April 22.

Zimmerman claims he shot Martin in self-defense, and Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law could allow him to avoid criminal and possibly even civil liability for killing Trayvon Martin.

At the hearing, Zimmerman’s attorneys will have to convince Judge Debra Nelson of three things: •Zimmerman was not engaged in an unlawful activity. •Zimmerman was being attacked in a place he had a right to be. •Zimmerman had the reasonable belief that his life and his safety were in danger as a result of an overt act or perceived threat committed by Martin ::snipping2::

::snipping2::If you continuously followed me while I was walking at dusk/night I would confront you as well. Too bad Trayvon , didn't smash your skull completely open, Zim. While Trayvon's body erodes to bones 6 feet under, Zimmerman has put on no less than 40 pounds while out on bail. Z, , immerman was arrested for battery on a Peace officer and avoided jail/prison because he completed a diversion program. Thats a history of being an a**hole. Zimmerman couldn't get hired by a LE agency because of poor credit/and a history of violence/restraining orders with women. So what does he do? Designate himself, neighborhood watch captain and make complaints to his city council about the horrible work ethic and laziness of the officers patrolling his neighborhood. Good one Zim. How classy that your father attempts to use his veterans status "disabled veteran" during your bail hearing but doesn't state what his disability percentage is. Prior service personnel know it can be 5% disability to 100%. You and your attorneys always avoid mentioning your fathers occupation as a magistrate/judge because I'm sure he's utilized his position to get you out of way more jams then the public has discovered and that your family is not indigent. Oh, tell your wife to stop perjuring herself in court. ::snipping2::

Two Friday reports by WKMG-Channel 6’s Tony Pipitone will introduce a forensic consultant who will be a regular during the CBS affiliate’s coverage of the George Zimmerman trial.

Michael Knox has written “Intermediate Range: The Forensic Evidence in the Killing of Trayvon Martin,” a self-published book. Pipitone’s reports, at 6 and 11 p.m., lean heavily on Knox’s work.

The 6 p.m. report offers a timeline of the movements by Martin and Zimmerman on Feb. 26, the night Zimmerman fatally shot the teen in Sanford. The 11 p.m. report focuses on forensics to explain the wound evidence. Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in Martin’s death, and the trial will begin in June.

Of the 11 p.m. report, Pipitone added, “We’re not saying it’s a scientific re-creation. It’s to visualize what stippling and cloth and gunshots produce when they come together.” ::snipping2::What does Pipitone want viewers to take away from the reports?

“They should wait for facts and evidence to be produced before jumping to any conclusions,” he said.

With the timeline, he added, “You see Trayvon could have gotten back to the house, had he gone to the house. And you see George could have gotten back to the truck, had he gone back to the truck. There’s up to 2 minutes and 32 seconds where neither did what they could have done.”

quote: With the timeline, he added, “You see Trayvon could have gotten back to the house, had he gone to the house. And you see George could have gotten back to the truck, had he gone back to the truck. There’s up to 2 minutes and 32 seconds where neither did what they could have done.”....

If someone hunts you down in the dark hours and pulls aside their shirt to show you their gun then tells you to stay put are you going to turn your back on them to walk home?

An Academy Award-winning actor and a famed stand-up comedian will attend a weekend event in Miami in remembrance of Trayvon Martin, a law firm representing the slain teen’s family has announced.

The Tallahassee-based Parks & Crump firm announced that Jamie Foxx and Cedric the Entertainer will attend the Day of Remembrance Community Peace Walk and Forum, which is being hosted by a foundation created by the teen’s parents.

The event, to start at 10 a.m. Saturday at Ives Estates Park on Northeast 16th Avenue north of Ives Dairy Road in North Miami-Dade, will focus on “motivating youth on peaceful conflict resolutions instead of gun violence,” the firm said in a statement. Sunday evening, the foundation plans to hold a remembrance dinner at the DoubleTree Miami Airport Hotel’s convention center.

::snipping2::

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"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has!" Margaret Mead

quote: With the timeline, he added, “You see Trayvon could have gotten back to the house, had he gone to the house. And you see George could have gotten back to the truck, had he gone back to the truck. There’s up to 2 minutes and 32 seconds where neither did what they could have done.”....

If someone hunts you down in the dark hours and pulls aside their shirt to show you their gun then tells you to stay put are you going to turn your back on them to walk home?

(Bolded by me)

Amys Sister, has this proven to be true and you can provide me a link back to it, or is it a theory? I don't remember seeing anything at this point that shows we could know that. I'm asking because there have been so many theories and falsehoods from both sides, I feel it will take sitting through a trial to begin to see truth, and even then, we may never really know what was said and done. From the same article you've quoted from:

Saturday was a day of remembrance for Trayvon Martin, as about a thousand people — including actor Jamie Foxx — united with the late teen’s family to march, pray, listen to music and hear inspirational messages, while pressing for justice in his killing.

The Trayvon Martin Foundation sponsored the “I am Trayvon Day of Remembrance Community Peace Walk,” to honor the unarmed Miami Gardens teen fatally shot in Sanford on Feb. 26 of last year by neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman.

“We’re here to let the community, and particularly teenagers, know that they have the right to walk in peace without being followed, without being harmed and without being killed,” Trayvon’s mother, Sybrina Fulton, told The Miami Herald at the start of the event at Ives Estate Park at 20901 NE 16th Ave. in north Miami-Dade. She said the walk would be held annually.

Fulton, Trayvon’s father Tracy and brother Jahvaris held up a huge banner and marched through the park as the crowd trailed them, chanting “I am Trayvon Martin.” Many wore T-shirts emblazoned with Trayvon’s picture, as the line snaked toward a band shell.

Last Tuesday would have been Trayvon’s 18th birthday, which has inspired a series of activities all week in his honor, including a dinner Sunday night.

::snipping2::

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"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has!" Margaret Mead

George Zimmerman's attorneys Monday asked for a new piece of evidence — all the recordings of Trayvon Martin's voice in the possession of a young Miami woman who was on the phone with him just before he was killed.

Defense attorney Mark O'Mara has described the 18-year-old woman, identified as "witness 8," as the state's most important witness.

That's because she's told authorities that she was on the phone with Trayvon several times the day he was shot, heard him say a strange man was following him, heard him say he was afraid and then heard them exchange a few words.

In an earlier interview recorded by an attorney for Trayvon's family and ABC News, she said she heard Trayvon ask the man, "What are you following me for?" And she said she heard the man say, "What are you doing around here?"

Then the phone went dead, she said.

The new request asks Circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson to require the woman, sometimes identified as Trayvon's girlfriend, to surrender to O'Mara all recordings of Trayvon's voice from 2010, 2011 and 2012.

It was not immediately clear whether prosecutors would object. ::snipping2::

George Zimmerman's lawyers have asked a judge to require Benjamin Crump, the attorney for Trayvon Martin's family, to answer questions under oath, despite a 15-page affidavit he filed last week, hoping to avoid that face-to-face exchange.

In paperwork made public today, defense attorney Donald West asked Circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson to again order Crump to appear for a deposition and answer questions about an interview he conducted of the state's most important witness, a young woman who spoke to Trayvon moments before he was shot.

In a separate development, attorneys in the case have set a hastily-scheduled hearing for 4 p.m. tomorrow to discuss whether Zimmerman's "stand your ground" hearing, at which he's expected to ask for immunity, should be delayed.

In October the judge ordered that it be concluded by April 26 and that Zimmerman stand trial on June 10. At a hearing last week, defense attorney Mark O'Mara argued that he needed more time, but the judge said no to his request for a trial delay.

At tomorrow's hearing, which the defendant will not attend, it's expected that O'Mara will ask for a delay in the "stand your ground" hearing. In paperwork filed yesterday, the defense attorney asked to discuss its timing.

As for Crump, at an Oct. 19 hearing, the judge ordered him to answer a very limited number of questions about a recorded interview he made of a young Miami woman who was on the phone with Trayvon just before he was killed.

The judge directed Crump to list who was present for that interview, which took place March 19 in a Miami-area home, and she told him to provide Zimmerman's lawyers with a clearer copy of the recording.

Crump had been scheduled for deposition Feb. 5, but at a hearing that morning, the judge postponed it indefinitely to give her and attorneys time to read the just-filed affidavit.

In it, Crump gives the names of many of the people who were present when the call was recorded but not all. His affidavit says he had earlier disclosed a complete list of those present to defense attorneys.

His affidavit also offers an explanation about why the quality of the recording was so poor.

The young woman was not in the room; she was on the other end of a cell phone call; she was on "speaker phone"; and Crump had a bad connection and kept switching cell phones, according to his affidavit.

Crump attorney Bruce Blackwell said on Feb. 5 that he would not produce Crump for a deposition without a court order.

Yesterday, West filed a motion, asking for that order.

"Mr. Crump's lengthy and often detailed affidavit illustrates that Mr. Crump does have information relevant to the offense charged and is therefore subject to the rule governing depositions of unlisted witnesses," West wrote. ::snipping2::

Trayvon Martin, the teen shot and killed in 2012 during a fight with a neighborhood watch member, is being honored posthumously by Providence College.

Ignoring the absolute dearth of evidence indicating his alleged killer – also a minority – was motivated in any way by race, the college announced the creation of the Trayvon Martin Award for Social Justice.

According to the school, one student and one staff member will receive the award for a perceived dedication to fighting racism.

::snipping2::

and this award was created before the facts of the case had been presented at trial.

None of that mattered to Dr. Julia Jordan-Zachery, who spearheaded the award project.

She has often referenced the Trayvon Martin case on social media and in weblog postings and said in a recent interview she has no doubt racism was behind the murder.

Sanford’s history figures prominently in George Zimmerman’s case, his brother tells Bill Maher.

“The reality of Sanford, Florida, is that it is a high-crime area,” Robert Zimmerman Jr. said on HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher” Friday night. “And sometimes it’s not only race is a factor, but the geography is a factor. And what was going on in the police department historically, why people came to the conclusion that this was being covered up, and they were covering up the white man’s actions. Well, George, isn’t white, and he’ll never be white. Well, that certainly was an element at the time.”

The low-key interview allowed Robert Zimmerman to blast media reports that his brother is prejudiced. ”There really was no storyline to this racism, there was no evidence for it,” he said. “The media just made up his race and made up something he had said.”

George Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26 in Sanford. The trial is scheduled to start in June. Zimmerman has claimed self-defense in the shooting.

“George knew one thing: He knew that he had never seen this person before,” his brother told Maher. “He knew that it was suspicious and warranted investigation by the police. Unfortunately, he got in this situation, and I’ve been in this situation, where you kind of wind up being the eyes and ears of the police on the ground.”

Robert Zimmerman added that his brother wasn’t a racist but ”he had a problem with crime and that community was victimized constantly by crime.”

The brother said that stand your ground is not a factor in his brother’s defense. Robert Zimmerman said you can’t retreat when someone is sitting on you and hitting your head on concrete, as George has claimed Trayvon was doing to him.

But Maher said Zimmerman’s brother couldn’t be objective on that point. “Without the gun involved, wouldn’t it have been just a guy who lost a fight?” Maher asked, drawing the studio audience’s applause.

“It wasn’t 90210. It was Sanford, Florida,” the brother said ::snipping2::Maher said that Robert seemed gentle and nothing like George. In a lighter moment, Robert said he had his own scrapes with the law, but declined to offer specifics. “Oh, Bill, I’m not on the stand,” he said. “I plead the Fifth.”

In the end, Maher was impressed by Robert Zimmerman. “You’re a good spokesman.You’ve got a future in this industry,” Maher said.

SANFORD -- George Zimmerman's defense attorneys have talked to the former lead investigator in the case.

Court documents from Seminole County show defense attorneys have conducted depositions from several investigators with the state attorney's office, as well as Chris Serino, the now-former Sanford police detective who led the investigation into the shooting death of Trayvon Martin nearly one year ago.

Defense attorneys said Serino recommended that Zimmerman be charged in Martin's death, even after the Sanford Police Department came to a consensus that, at the time, there was no case against Zimmerman.

Serino is expected to be a key witness in Zimmerman's trial for second-degree murder. Former Casey Anthony attorney Jose Baez is representing Serino. ::snipping2::

SANFORD -- There are new indications that Trayvon Martin's family has plans to sue George Zimmerman in civil court following his trial for second-degree murder.

The latest developments come as attorneys prepare to head back to the Seminole County Courthouse on Friday, looking to nail down a date for Zimmerman's "Stand Your Ground" hearing. LIVE UPDATES: Bookmark our Chat page to follow LIVE updates from Friday's hearing.

Zimmerman's lawyers are expected to again push for Martin family attorney Ben Crump to testify in a deposition.

But now, an attorney representing Crump says allowing the defense to question Crump about the case violates his attorney-client privileges with the Martins, who hired him with plans to file a civil suit against Zimmerman. ::snipping2::

It's been clear for months that the family is seeking damages from the homeowners association of the Sanford subdivision where Trayvon was shot, the Retreat at Twin Lakes. Not clear until Wednesday, though, was their plan to seek damages against Zimmerman, who launched a Neighborhood Watch group organized through the homeowner's association.

According to paperwork filed on behalf of Crump by Orlando attorney Bruce Blackwell, "Attorney Crump has been retained by the victim's parents to assert civil claims against defendant…."

The pleading suggests the claim or suit would be for wrongful death or negligence but offers no details. Except for money being donated by supporters through a defense fund website, it's not clear that Zimmerman has any assets. He's been without a job for a year and was a renter at the time of the shooting.

The homeowners association, however, does have assets, among them insurance coverage. In August, its insurer, Travelers Casualty and Surety Company of America, filed suit in federal court, disclosing that Trayvon's mother had filed a claim of more than $75,000, seeking damages for the death of her son. ::snipping2::

SANFORD — The judge in the George Zimmerman murder case said Friday that defense attorneys may not grill Benjamin Crump, the high-profile, often-on-TV attorney who made the Trayvon Martin shooting into a national civil-rights issue.

Defense attorney Don West asked Circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson to let him depose Crump on a wide variety of issues, including Crump's contention that Sanford police and then-State Attorney Norm Wolfinger had engaged in a criminal conspiracy to cover up the teenager's death. ::snipping2::The judge also rejected their request for make prosecutors hand over the home addresses of Trayvon's mother, father, brother and the young Miami woman who is the state's most important witness.

She is Witness 8, who was on the phone with Trayvon moments before he was killed.

O'Mara and West want her address, as well as those of Trayvon's family members, to investigate them before taking their depositions next month in South Florida. That would allow defense attorneys to challenge them then about inconsistent statements, a history of lying or other embarrassing things.

Zimmerman's attorneys made clear Friday that they intend to aggressively go after Witness 8. West pointed out that she was 18 when Trayvon was shot, even though Crump told reporters at a news conference in March that she was 16. ::snipping2::